Archives: Websites

Resident is a New Zealand furniture and lighting company headquartered in Albany, Auckland, selling seating, tables, storage, pendants, table lamps and floor lights designed in collaboration with named international studios. Pieces are credited to designers including Tim Rundle, Philippe Malouin, Jamie McLellan, John Tree, Michael Young, Daniel Schofield, ASCA and NOTE, and are made through a production network that runs from an Auckland lighting workshop to timber joiners in Lithuania and upholsterers in London, Los Angeles and Melbourne. The site describes the company as "a visionary design house based in New Zealand". Built on a custom platform, with English and German versions.

Website Design

Near-monochrome by design. The interface is white and near-black with two grays for panels and rules, and no accent colour anywhere. Product photography and the fabric swatches are the only source of colour on the page.

Messina Sans throughout. Headings, navigation and body copy all run in a single self-hosted grotesque, Messina Sans, with no serif or display face for contrast. Type is set small and widely spaced, keeping the interface subordinate to the imagery.

Editorial layouts over catalogue grids. The homepage alternates full-width photography with short paragraphs on new releases, showroom residencies and completed architectural projects, so it reads closer to a design journal than a shop front.

Shopping Experience

Configuration before price. A product page opens on a quantity stepper, an Add to cart button and a Pre-order option, then works through Styles such as Brushed Aluminium and Dark Bronze before reaching upholstery.

Fabric choice documented in detail. Upholstery is grouped by mill, covering Maharam, Camira, Kvadrat and Sorensen, and every named colourway carries its own Info panel listing fibre composition and a Martindale abrasion rating, for example 78% post-industry recycled polyester at 100,000 Martindale.

No prices on public pages. Neither category grids nor product pages show a figure. Pricing sits behind an account, and registration asks for a full postal address and country, which places the store closer to trade ordering than to direct retail.

A stockist network instead of a checkout for most buyers. A Stockists page maps showrooms across Australia, the United States and other markets, each with an address, phone number, website and an Enquire link.

Brand Storytelling

Longevity as the argument. The About page states that "luxury is not defined by excess or status" but by "investing in essential objects that bring enduring pleasure over a lifetime of use", and ties a resourceful approach to the company's island origins.

A working journal. A news section carries new releases, project features and interviews with architects and owners, giving finished pieces a context beyond the product page.

Notable Features

A specification library. Downloads collects press releases, product image sets, LED dimmer and driver manuals, upholstery references, designer portraits, webinar replays and a B2B user manual.

3D product viewing. Pages load a model viewer component, so pieces can be rotated rather than only photographed from fixed angles.

Bilingual switching. A language toggle moves the whole site between English and German from the header.